Continuous steel-billet-casting machine.



No. 814,728. PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906'I 0. POTTER. CONTINUOUS STEEL BILLET CASTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26, 1904.

- 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

mvemoz l Oscar Potter No. 814,728. PATENTEDYMAR. 13, 1906. 0. POTTER.

CONTINUOUS STEEL BILLET CASTING MACHINE.

AYPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26, 1904.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

i uw oz wif/wwwa I Oscar Potter @aufm/Q B l No. 814,728. PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906.

O. POTTER.

CONTINUOUS STEEL BILLET CASTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. Z6. 1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

51100.11 tot @MNT/wwwa C Oscar Potter Uro/vuur,

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEicE.

R OSCAR POTTER, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE. CONTINUOUS STEEL-BILLET-CASTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented March 13, 1906.

Application filed September 26. 1904. Serial No. 225 ,991.`

TolafZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I,l OSCAR POTTER, a citizenof the United States, residing at Wilmmgton, inthe county of Newcastle and of Delaware, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Continuous Steel-Billet-Castin Machines, of which the following is a specification.

In the present manufacture of commercial steel-such as shafts, bars, channel-irons, beams, angles, &c.-an ingot is first produced which relative to the final product is very much shorter and of very much greater j cross section, and a large and expensive plant is required to reduce these ingots to bilets from which desired cross-sections may be rolled. lThe ingots are, as a general rule,

piped more or less, and care must be exercised in the reduction of the ingot that the piping is not continued into the billet and The o ject of my, invention is to produce a machine into' which molten Steel may be poured so as to form a billet of indefinite length, the mechanism being of such character that the cross-section of the billetmay be comparatively small and may, if desired, approximate the cross section of the desired finall product. The construction and arrangement are also such that the billet which is produced is more free from piping.

l A further object of my invention is to produce a construction and arrangement of pouring vessels especially adapted for use with my machine which will not freeze up, which will prevent spattering of the metal, and which will also serve to reduce the fluid- .ity'of the metal to such condition that it may be introduced into the continuous mold without danger of running into the joints. This treatment results, further, in permitting. as

` much contraction of the metal as possible,

and because of the exposure of large surfaces the confined gases are liberated. he accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

'Figure 1 is a side elevation of an embodying my invention; Fig. 2, section of a part thereof on a Fig. 3, a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a plan of the part shown in Fig. 1, the billet being omitted; Fig. 5, a perspective view of the initial pouring vessel, and'Fig. 6 a perspective detail of the pouring end of one of t e cooling-troughs.

apparatus a vertical larger scale;

In the drawings, 1.0 indicates a supportingthe slot the full height l table preferably carrying upon its upper face a `plurality of transverse supporting-rollers 11, the table being horizontal or inclined slightly. Located at opposite ends of the table are shafts 12, each of which carries suitable sprocket-wheels 13, over which runs a suitable carrier carrying a plurality of openended mating mold-sections. The mold-sections 14 may, if desired, be attached to an endless carrier but in the drawings I have shown each of saidsections provided at each of its ends with a pair of transverse pins 15, the pins at each end being connected to the adjacent pins of the next mold-section by means of a yoke 16, provided with a suitable adjusting-screw 17, by means of which the several sections may be held properly together to form an endless chain. Many possible modiiications of this construction will readily suggest themselves. The shafts 12 are driven in any suitable manner, preferably in the direction indicated by# the arrows, so that the molds will pass along table 10 up the incline thereof when the table is inclined.

It is not unlikely that the steel may be introduced into the trough-like mold formed by the sections 14'in many ways but any device chosen for this purpose must beof such character as to prevent freeziner and also to prevent spattering of the meta as it passes from the ladle or converter into the mold. For this purpose I have designed a peculiar pouring vessel 18. This vessel consists of a receiving-body provided with a bottom and suitably lined with any desired lining 18a. Formed through the vertical side of the body referably the entire height) is a vertical slbt 18h, which extends to the bottom of the body,

andV extending from each side of this slot is a vertical lip 18C, the arrangement bebody 18 will issue. therefrom in a comparatively narrow vertical stream. By making of the vessel all possibility of freezing of the issuing stream is prevented.

It will often occur that the metal will be in most too fluid a state to successfully pass d1- rectly from the vessel 18 into the .endless pmold, and in order to permit it to cool and become less iiuid before entering the molds I arrange between the vessel 18 and the endless mold a series of troughs 19, arranged in any desired number and arrangement. I refer to arrange these troughs one directly elow the other and upon suitable supports IOO IAIO

` 22, &c.,

20, by means of which the effective length thereof may be varied, as readily appears from the drawings. The first trough can ble set at any angle to the molds should conditions require. In order to prevent spattering from one trough to another, the bottom of the trough is provided with a pouring-slot 19a, which thus performs the function performed by the lips 18c of the initialwessel 18, The pouring end of the trough may be closed, as shown, or may be left Aopen. The last trough 19 may be directed either up or down the incline, but I preferto direct it in the direction of movement of the endlessI mold, so that the metal flowing from the last trough into themold will drop into the mold and flow downward in the direction opposite to the direction of motion ofthe Imold. The movement of the mold will then carry this thin lip continuously up under the oncoming metal, thus preventing the hotter metal from directly strikin the mold and also revent-v ing any unequail and improper shrin rage.

In order to properly compact the metal into the mold, any desired means maj,r be provided for engaging the top of the metal in the mold but I prefer a series of rollers 21 which are gradually increased in weight and arranged to rest upon the .upper Surface of the billet. The rollers engage the metal while it is still Asoft and compress it, so as to compensate for any inequalities in contraction, and thus prevent anyv cracking of the billet.

The operation of the machine is substantially continuous after the first mold has been plugged at its forward end by a brick or fire-clay. Jfeeding vessel or trough the stream of molten metal is discharged into the mold in a narrow vertical stream which s reads out and is continuously covered; as alieady described.

The mold-sections may be given any desired cross-section and may be formed as a part of the endless carrier, as shown, or be merely supported by an endless carrier of any. desired form without departing from my invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. A billet-casting machine consisting of an inclined su port, a series of o en-ended molds, means or driving said molds in succession end to end up the incline, and means for introducing molten metal into said molds as they are' presented to casting position.

2. n a blllet-castin machine, the combination of, an incline support, a series of open-ended molds adapted to lie end to end on said support, means for introducing molten metal 1nto said molds, and means causing a relative lmovement between the molds and the filling means, said movement being such that,relative to the mold,`the filling-point will pass down the mold.

3. In a billet-casting machine, the combi- As the molds' pass beneath the' of receiving? vesse for nation'with an inclined trough-like mold, of

means for introducing molten metal into saidV means for causing a movement bemolds, tween the molds and the filling means, said movement being such that,relative to the mold, the filling-point will pass down the f mold, the angle of the inclination of the mold being such that the molten metal passing into the mold will not strike the bottom of the mold directly but will strike`molten metal already in the mold, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a billet-casting machine, the combi: nation, with an inclined trough-like mold, of means for introducing molten metal into said mold, means for causingpa movement between the mold and introducin means, said movement being such that, re ative to the mold, the fillingoint will pass down the mold, the an le o an inclination of a mold being such t at the molten metal passin into thel mold will not .strike the bottom o the mold directly but will strike ,moltenl metal already in the mold, and means for engaging the poured molten metal in the mold to compact the same at a point higher in the incline than the point of introduction of the molten metal. y

5. In a billet-casting machine, the combination with an open-topped trough-like mold, of a pouring vessel therefor consisting of a receivlng-body having a vertical slot formed through itswall with \lips projecting from each edge of said slot beyond 4the vessel-bottom in alinement with the mold, and means for causing a relative movement longitudinally between the mold and vessel, as and for the purpose set forth. A

6. A' pouring vessel for controlling flow of molten metal, said vessel consistlng of a receiving body having formed through its Wall, anda vertical lip eX- a vertical slot IOO they

tending outward along each ed e of the slot and beyond the bottom, where y the metal will issue from the vessel in a comparatively narrow vertical stream.

7. In a billet-castin machine, nation with a trou the combis arranged in a cascade above said mold with the lower vessel arranged to discharge into the mold whereby the molten metal will flow from an upper vessel into the one next below and lengthwise through said vessel to the opposite end and from thence to the next lower vessel, and

h-li e mold, of a pluralityi IIO means for driving the mold beneath said lastmentioned vesse 8. A billet-casting machineconsisting of an inclined su port, a series of o en-ended molds, means or driving said 'mo ds in succession end to end up the incline, means for introducing molten metal into said-molds as they are presented to casting position, and means for compacting he poured metal into the mold.

' that, relative to Iro 9. In a billet-cast' machine, the combination of, an inclinl su port, a series of open-ended molds adapted) to lie end to end on said support, means for introducing molten metal mto said molds, means for causing a movement between the introducing means and the molds, said movement being such the mold, the filling-point will pass down the mold, and means for compactlng the poured metal .into the mold at a point higher than the point of introduction of the molten metal. i V i 10. In a billet-castin machine, the combination with an inclinecI trough-like mold, of means for introducing molten metal into said molds at continuously-successive points longitudinal' thereof the pouring metal moving downward7 toward the empty lower portion of the mold, the angle of inclination of the mold being such that the molten metal passing into the mold will not strike the bottom of the mold directl but will strike molten metal valready in t e mold, and means arranged up the'incline from the pouring-point for compacting the poured metal into the mold, as and for the purpose set forth.

11. In a billet-castm machine, the 'combi-A nation with an inclinefI trough-like mold, of

means for introducing molten metal into said mold at continuously-successive points longitudinally thereof the pouring' metal moving downward toward the empty lower portion' ofthe mold, the angle .of inclination of the mold being such that the molten metal passinginto the mold will not strike the b0ttomof the mold directly but will strike molten celving-bo y havin of receiving vesse metal already in the mo'd, means arranged up the incline from the curing-point for engaging the poured metalhn the mold to com# pachl the same, as and for the purpose set 4o ort l 12. In a billet-casting machine, the combination with an open-topped trough-like moldof a pourin vessel therefor conslsting of a rea vertical slot formed through its wall wit lips projecting beyond each edge and the bottom of said slot in alinement with the mold, means for causing a relative movement lon itudiiially between the mold and vessel, anfI means for compacting the poured metal into the mold, as the .purpose set forth.

13. In a billet-castin nation with a trou h-l' and for machine, the combie mold, of a plurality s arranged in a cascade above said mold with the lower vessel arranged to discharge into the mold the molten metal fiowin from an upper) vessel into the adjacent enr? of the next lower vesseland from thence through said lower vessel and dischar therefrom at the op osite end, means or ivin the mold -beneatlh said last,- mentioned vesse and means for compacting the poured metal into the mold.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Wilmington, Delaware, this 23d day of September, A. D. 1904.

OSCAR POTTER'.

Witnesses Ann W. TIssEL, FRANK G. RUTTY. 

